


Caring For You

by Liza_Taylor



Series: Promptober 2020-Sylbern/Sylvadetta Edition [26]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, October Prompt Challenge, Roommates, conflicted feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27203696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liza_Taylor/pseuds/Liza_Taylor
Summary: Bernadetta is Dorothea's roommate. Sylvain is Dorothea's friend with benefits. Bernadetta realizes she might like Sylvain a little more than she should.Prompt: “Because no body cares about me.”/“Because I care about you.”
Relationships: Dorothea Arnault & Bernadetta von Varley, Dorothea Arnault & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Sylvain Jose Gautier & Bernadetta von Varley, Sylvain Jose Gautier/Bernadetta von Varley
Series: Promptober 2020-Sylbern/Sylvadetta Edition [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947940
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	Caring For You

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up being one one that just kept going. lol.

“Good morning sleepyhead, how do you like your eggs?”

Bernadetta wiped the sleep from her eyes as she took in Sylvain standing in her kitchen, currently cooking eggs on the stove. Honestly, a few months ago it would have freaked her out but nowadays this kind of stuff didn’t faze her anymore.

A couple months ago Dorothea started seeing Sylvain. Well, “seeing” was probably giving it too much credit. They were friends with benefits. The first night that Sylvain stayed over(thankfully Bernadetta’s room was on the other end of the apartment so she didn’t hear anything), Bernadetta had went to the kitchen in the middle of the night to get water. Much to her surprise Sylvain was raiding their fridge. In his boxers.

Perhaps one day she could look back on that day and not feel second hand embarrassment but she had screamed and Dorothea burst out of her room with her baseball bat while in her birthday suit. They laughed about it now but Bernadetta still hated it, especially since that was technically her first real interaction with Sylvain. Ever since then though, whenever he was over, he always made sure he was dressed whenever he left Dorothea’s room. He was also always polite to her, always greeting her when he got there and whenever they ordered food, he would always ask Bernie what she wanted even before Dorothea could.

“Earth to Bernie, you awake?”

She startled, realizing Sylvain was peering at her face and she jumped back. “Oh sorry, uh…oh Bernie…”

“Eggs?” He glanced back to the stove, let out a curse and quickly transferred the crispy fried eggs onto a plate. “Guess I’m eating that one. Seriously though, what kind of eggs Bernie?” He pointed the spatula at her and winked. “I swear I can actually cook, I won’t burn them this time.” 

“You really don’t have to,” she stammered. She opened the pantry and grabbed one of the cereal boxes. “I uh, can’t eat much in the morning so…”

“Gotcha, you’re one of those.” He opened the cabinet next to him and grabbed a bowl and held it out to her. “Huh, I just realized this is the first time I’ve seen you awake this early. Well, you know besides….”

“Don’t say anymore!” she squeaked, taking the bowl from him. “My hours shifted so I’m opening a couple days at the bookstore now.”

“Oh, gotcha. That’s rough.” Sylvain cracked a few eggs and began scrambling them in the pan. “But I’m sure you’ll do fine Bernie. Maybe have some caffeine though,” he said with a chuckle as she yawned.

“Well someone’s chatty.” Dorothea walked into the kitchen, looking flawless as always. Bernadetta knew she was lucky that they were childhood friends otherwise someone like Dorothea would never want to spent time with a wallflower like Bernadetta.

“Well Bernie and I were having a _private_ conversation until someone so rudely showed up,” huffed Sylvain. He slid the eggs onto a plate and held it out to Dorothea. “My lady, your delicious breakfast of eggs scrambled to perfection is now ready.”

“You ass.” She lightly hit his arm and took the eggs as they delved into a gossip about people at their work.

Bernadetta watched them interact from the kitchen table as she ate her cereal. They were just so comfortable with each other, so relaxed and even she could see they would probably be a cute couple. However when she asked Dorothea about it, her friend made it clear that they were just friends who sometimes had sex with each other for fun, nothing more. They would be the perfect couple though, they were both good-looking and charismatic and Bernadetta, well, she was none of that.

“Oh crap, Bernie, don’t you have to go get going soon?” asked Dorothea.

Bernadetta glanced at the clock on the wall and yelped as she scrambled to finish her breakfast.

***

Bernadetta sighed as she pushed open the door to the apartment. Today was exhausting at work, they had a Karen that refused to leave and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Thankfully Dedue was working today and although he hated using his frame to intimidate, it was quite helpful in this situation.

“Oh hey Bernie, you’re finally back. Popcorn?” Dorothea held out the bowl. She and Sylvain were sitting on the couch, a movie playing on TV.

“Thanks.” She grabbed a few from the bowl and ate it. She noticed a box on the floor next to the couch. “What’s that?”

“It’s for you!” Sylvain jumped to his feet, picked up the box and set it on the coffee table while Dorothea turned off the TV.

“He wanted to make sure you saw it so that’s why we’re out here watching movies.” Dorothea rolled her eyes.

“Awwww, you can’t get enough of me can you?” He ducked as Dorothea threw a pillow at him. “Anyway, Bernie, my friend’s girlfriend was cleaning out her room and she had these old manga that she was planning on getting rid of and I know you like this kind of stuff so I asked her to give them to me so I could show you. Just take whatever you want, I’ll donate the rest.”

Bernadetta peeked inside the box and gasped at the old titles sending her on a nostalgia trip. “Most of these are out of print,” she squeaked.

Sylvain grinned. “Glad I could snag them for you then. Take your time looking through them.”

She nodded and began doing so as Dorothea and Sylvain went into Dorothea’s room to-ugh, it was still so awkward for her to think about. Anyway, back to the manga! She ended up taking most of them, a few were series she had been wanting to collect for a while and a couple she had not even heard of before.

She was in her room, going through them and admiring the old manga drawing styles when she heard Dorothea’s door open. She scrambled out of bed and Sylvain was looking at the box and the manga she left behind.

“You’re still up?” he asked in surprise.

She glanced at the clock at the wall. “Oh, I don’t have work tomorrow so I was reading the manga so…uh thanks by the way, for getting them for me.”

“No problem Bernie, glad someone could get some use out of them. Any reason why you left these still in the box?”

“Oh, they’re series I already have or ones I don’t like. I hope you don’t mind I took so many.”

“It’s less for me to carry so I don’t mind at all,” he said with a small laugh as he picked up the box. “Anyway, I’ll see you later Bernie.”

“See you later,” she echoed as he left. Once he was gone, she became aware of the slight churning in her stomach. That didn’t mean anything, right?

***

Bernadetta glared at the shelf, wondering whose bright idea it was to put the coconut milk on the highest shelf. Didn’t grocery stores think of the struggle of short people? Also there was no way she was going to ask for help over something like this. She reached up but alas her fingertips barely reached it. Ugh, it looked like she was going to have to climb the lower shelf to do it.

“Hey Bernie, you need help?”

She squeaked and whirled around to see Sylvain there, hands in his pockets. “What are you doing here?” She winced after it left her mouth. That was stupidly rude. Although at the same time it was so off-putting to see him somewhere that wasn’t her apartment. She _knew_ he had a life, but to see it was just so surreal.

Thankfully he just chuckled. “Buying snacks, my roommate ate it all so I just stopped by to grab some and then I saw you in this aisle struggling so I thought I would say hi and offer some help. Which one were you trying to get?”

She groaned. “How much of it did you see?”

“The little hops were adorable I will admit.”

No, he had seen all of it! She covered her face and wished the ground would open up and swallow her up. Wait, he called her adorable right? Well her hops, but she did the hops and where was her brain going with this?

“Which one Bernie?”

“Oh, uh, the one in the green can.”

Sylvain was so tall, he just scooped it off the shelf and held it out to her after a sweeping bow. “I have traveled far and wide and got you the-” He quickly looked at what the can was. “-coconut milk you seek. Here you are mi’lady.”

She couldn’t help but giggle as she took it from him and put it in her shopping basket. “Thanks.”

“What are you going to use it for?”

“I want to try a new recipe for dinner tonight and it has coconut milk in it. Curry.”

“Well that sounds delicious, man Dorothea is so lucky getting to eat your food all the time.”

“My food isn’t that great,” she stammered.

“Trust me, after you see how Felix is in the kitchen….” He rolled his eyes. “For safety reasons I don’t touch anything he makes anymore. Anyway, I hope dinner goes well and you know, you could totally save me some so I can eat it next time I’m over, just a thought.” He pouted slightly as he said it.

“I can see if we have any leftovers.”

“Oh wait, don’t actually do it, I was kidding. Seriously, just enjoy your dinner okay?” He waved goodbye before walking out of the aisle.

Bernadetta looked at the can of coconut milk and caught herself smiling. With a quick shake of her head, she went down the next aisle for the rest of the ingredients.

***

“There’s some curry in the fridge for you by the way,” said Dorothea.

Sylvain paused and doubled back in the kitchen and opened the fridge. A little Tupperware container filled with Bernie’s delicious curry was on the top shelf, a note attached to it. He pulled it out and had to smile at the cute, doodle of Bernie putting the curry in the microwave. It had a few notes to make sure he had some rice with it and it shouldn’t be too spicy since Dorothea couldn’t handle the spice.

“Really? You can’t handle spice?” he asked with a laugh.

“Shut it, I’m getting better.” Dorothea stood in the doorway of the kitchen, pouting slightly.

“Where is she by the way? I need to thank her for the curry.”

“I think she’s working overnight at the bookshop. Apparently there’s a midnight release and she’s helping out.”

“Oh man, that’s rough.”

Dorothea shrugged. “I think she’s all for it, it’s a series she really likes.”

“Huh, okay then.” He put the curry back in the fridge and went over to Dorothea with a sly smile, his hands going to encircle her waist.

After a quickie, Sylvain left the apartment and headed home with the curry under an arm. His own apartment was neat and tidy, more due to him than Felix.

“Shoot, do we have some rice…” He peeked in the pantry. Well there was some instant rice. It probably wasn’t the best option but it was something.

Bernie’s curry was better than he thought it would be and he was so glad Felix was visiting his dad because otherwise his reaction would have probably been super embarrassing. He really hoped Bernie would make it again sometime, it was super good.

Would it be weird to ask her? Probably since he didn’t live there. He scratched the back of his head as he thought back to running into her at the supermarket. He had to do a double-take seeing her there and struggling to reach the can of coconut milk on the top shelf. It was almost surreal seeing her not in the apartments. It had finally hit him how short she was. He didn’t know why he didn’t notice it before. She was also so damn sweet, she ended up setting aside some curry for him just because of his off-handed comment.

Wait, what in the world was he thinking? She was Dorothea’s roommate for crying out loud. There was probably some rule somewhere about having thoughts about the roommate of one of the people he was sleeping with.

“I obviously need to get some sleep,” he said with a sigh before going into the kitchen and adding rice to the shopping list on the fridge.

***

_“Hey, can you do me a favor?”_

_“Yeah sure, what’s up?”_

_“Can you walk Bernie home from the bookstore at 5 today? There has been some robberies happening in the area and you know how sweet and innocent Bernie looks. I would walk her myself but I don’t get out of work until very late tonight.”_

_“Yeah sure, I’m free.”_

_“Awesome, I owe you one.”_

It was the first time Sylvain had been to the bookstore Bernie worked at. It was a quaint little place shoved between two other buildings. He stuck his hands in his pockets and wondered if he should go inside or wait out here. After a moment, he decided to go in, he could at least tell her he was here and then browse books while he waited.

He spotted Bernie arranging a shelf and he was about to walk over and say hi when her co-worker went up to her. He had a large frame but despite the size Bernie didn’t cower as she turned to him and seemed to be answering whatever he asked of her.

A twinge seated itself in Sylvain’s stomach as he watched her interact with him. She had a bright smile, her body relaxed, so unlike how Sylvain’s first couple of meetings went with her. Bernie had been skittish with him, slow to warm up. And yet this guy got to see the smiles that she never showed him!

Sylvain had to pause and take in those thoughts. Where did they come from? He quickly lifted up a hand to wave as Bernie noticed him. She said something to her co-worker and hurried over.

“What are you doing here?”

“Dorothea asked me to walk you home and well, here I am. Didn’t she text you?”

“My phone is in the back, it needed to charge. I’m going to be working a little later than originally planned though. Dedue said he would walk me to the train station so I’ll be fine.”

Dedue? Was that the name of that co-worker? “Naw, I’ll walk you home,” said Sylvain with the brightest smile he could muster. “I have no plans tonight and Felix is being a pain in the ass so….” He shrugged. “It’s no problem really. I’ll just chill around the area until you’re done.”

“Are you sure?” She wrung her hands together. “You don’t have to Sylvain…”

“I want to, it’s fine. Just text me when you’re done.”

***

Bernadetta hurried out of the bookshop, Sylvain waiting for her outside. “Sorry I took so long,” she stammered, more excuses falling over her tongue.

“It’s fine Bernie, like I said, I’m okay with walking you home.”

Her hands clutched the strap of her purse as she walked next to Sylvain. This was the first time they had ever done anything like this and she could feel the awkwardness settling over her. She knew Dorothea cared but with her weird thoughts regarding Sylvain, she wasn’t sure what to do with it right now.

“So, how was work today?”

“Huh?” She glanced over at him.

He had a hand resting on the back of his neck. “No Karens today? Everything good?”

“Oh yeah, everything is fine.” A moment passed. “How about you?”

“Yeah, everything is good.”

Awkward silence descended on them again.

What in the world was going on? They had conversations with ease in the apartment but now it was like anything she said would ruin the moment.

“Bernie, hang on!”

She yelped as Sylvain grabbed her arm and tugged her backwards into him before she could walk into the street as the light turned red.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, her face flushing red as Sylvain released her.

“Sorry,” he said quickly, taking a step back.

“It’s okay…” She played with a charm hanging off her bag. Why did she have to make things so awkward? She was just so stupid. Of course there was nothing to what he did, he was just making sure she wouldn’t get run over by a car, it wasn’t like it meant anything else.

Meant anything else.

She froze as it really hit her what these odd feelings for Sylvain was. She had no real context for it but she had read books and just from Dorothea’s rants about her various relationships, it was obvious what this had to be.

She liked Sylvain.

She liked the person that her best friend was sleeping with.

“Bernie, the light’s green.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” She hurried after him but kept her pace slow so she could stare at his broad back. How many times had Dorothea see it? Probably so many with how often Sylvain was over. She really knew everything about him and Bernadetta knew Sylvain probably liked girls like Dorothea. Curvy, nice hair, a strong personality, everything opposite of her.

Her vision blurred, a lump lodging itself in the back of her throat. In this moment she hated Dorothea and the next she hated herself for hating her best friend. This was just so unfair.

“Bernie, hey, you okay?” Sylvain had glanced back and his eyes were wide in concern.

“I…I’m fine,” she stammered, lowering her head so he couldn’t see her face and began to walk quickly. The sooner they got to the apartment, the sooner this could be over.

“I don’t think you’re fine though.” Stupidly enough, Sylvain’s long gait meant he was able to catch up to her in no time. “Look Bernie, why don’t we stop here for a bit?” 

She looked up and realized they were in front of a park and Sylvain was pointing to the swings. Like the coward she was who struggled to say no, she followed him to the swings and sat down on the one next to him, her feet pushing the swing slightly so she rocked back and forth in place.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to,” he said softly.

Why in the world did he have to be so nice to her? She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve, the tears starting to leak out. This was so unfair. Why couldn’t she like someone like Dedue? He was nice, gentle and whatnot. He was also safe, not like Sylvain who was handsome and paired so well with Dorothea.

“Do you want a hug?” he asked, his voice soft and hesitant.

She shook her head. A hug wouldn’t help her at all right now, especially from him. “You’re so lucky Sylvain, so many people like you and stuff.”

Sylvain frowned as he glanced at her. “What are you talking about?”

“I mean, whenever you are over, you’re always talking about your friends and you are friends with your friends’ friends and you’re just so sociable and I’m just…Bernie. Nobody really cares about Bernie but I guess that’s my fault really since I’m so bad at talking to people.”

“I care about Bernie.”

She looked at him in surprise and shock. Sylvain looked away from her, a hand going to cover his mouth.

“You don’t have to say that to make me feel better. I know it’s true.”

“It isn’t. It isn’t at all.” Sylvain looked at her with an intensity that took her aback. “You’re a good person Bernie, you always look out for others and treat people well, heck, you made extra curry so I could have some too. And lots of people care about you, Dorothea does, the people at work and….” He gulped. “Like I said, I care about you too Bernie. I’m sorry you can’t see it yourself right now,” he said softly.

She picked at her nail, not really sure how to respond to that.

“I’m thinking of not coming by the apartment anymore.”

“Huh?” She looked at him wide-eyed. “Why?”

“I think Dorothea and I need to go back to being regular friends for now.”

“Regular friends?” She gripped tightly onto the swing chains. If Sylvain didn’t come over then she would never see him. Wait, but perhaps that was better for her, then she wouldn’t have to confront these feelings swirling around inside of her.

“Yeah, I think I need to figure some things out. My feelings on a few matters.”

“Feelings?” she whispered. “Like with Dorothea?” Her stomach churned, she knew this was going to happen. They were going to be a couple.

Sylvain shook his head. “No, not with her. With you.”

“Me?” she squeaked.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’ll probably make things more awkward for you but I know you’re also the type to overthink things if I don’t give an answer but I think I’m starting to develop feelings for you.”

She froze and stared at him in shock. “What?”

“I know, I probably made things super awkward for you, sorry Bernie.”

“No, uh, not at all.” She could feel those words pressing on the back of her throat. “I…uh…” They would not leave her lips. Her fear, her anxiety was churning up within her, making it incredibly difficult for her to get those words out.

“Anyway, sorry for tossing that onto you, I know I’m a crappy person but I didn’t want to just disappear without letting you know, I mean we both know Dorothea is the type to make up a crazy story.” Sylvain got up from the swing and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You okay to head back to the apartment? I know everything is weird now but I did promise Dorothea to bring you home so I’ll do that.”

She got her feet and shuffled her feet as she picked the skin of her fingernail. Who knew when the next time she would see him would be if she didn’t say anything now?

“Bernie? You okay?”

“I like you too,” she whispered.

“What was that?” He leaned in closer. “I didn’t catch that Bernie, your voice was too soft.”

“I like you too,” she repeated, looking at him wide-eyed.

He opened and shut his mouth, staring at her, dumbstruck. “You…what?”

She looked down, her face burning. Where in the world did she get the courage to say something like that.

“I see,” he said softly. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “What’s your number? Let me put it into my phone.”

“Huh? Oh, okay.” After they exchanged numbers, Sylvain stared at his phone thoughtfully.

“I still need to figure out my own feelings to be honest. It’s pretty jumbled up and honestly I wanted to see if I wasn’t sleeping with Dorothea if it would be as strong, you know, associations and whatnot. It wouldn’t be fair to you if we dated and I realized I didn’t have feelings for you.”

“Oh…”

“But if you still like me when I figure it out, then I’m all open to it if you are.”

“I can wait,” she said quickly. “I mean, I think I can…”

“Don’t wait if you find someone else that can make you happy, promise me that alright?”

Bernadetta didn’t want to but Sylvain looked so serious about it that she nodded. “I promise.”

“Thank you. Now let’s get you back home before Dorothea thinks you got kidnapped or something.”

Like before they walked forward together. It was still a little awkward, probably even moreso now that words had been said but perhaps someday, hopefully, they could walk together hand in hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Since I had still have prompts left to write, I ended up wrapping this one up sooner than I would have liked. Maybe someday I could come back to it again and add in the extra details I wanted? Maybe...


End file.
